St. Landry democrat., 1887-04-30

bic fellow. who had seen fifteen Years
of life. On the right hand side, and
also close to the base of the wall. was Il
medium sized male lion, and the atti-
tude of both plainly showed that they
had been stalking me. 1t was still
hunt. and was the VICTIM The lion
had come out of the bush to the right,
and the tiger had come out of Il
thicket to the left and crossed the creek
Neither animal could have seen the
other, and thus they were not aware of
each others presence.
Had remained i'll the building with
my back to the door another moment
one of the beasts would undoubtedly
have crept close enough to make a
spring. When | turned about and sat
down on the block of wood,the movement
upset their calculations and made them
timid for the moment Under certain
circumstance any wild beast loses heart.
A move which is Il surprise and not
clearly understood will make ours of
them at once, and second move will
put them to ignOminious flight. When
| got sight of the beasts the lion
had half turned, as if to sneak away,
while the tiger was crouched against
the wall, and appeared shame-faced.
Had risen up and swung my hat and
yelled both would have bolted, but |
must confess that, taking my pain and
IN II no CIT,
| was badly ratified. | couldn't think
just what ought to be done, and there
fore did nothing. This, after moment,
encouraged the beasts, and then came
such u situation as few men were ever
placed in. | had opportunity to see
here. lion and a tiger approaching a
victim waiting to be struck down.
have wondered thousand times what
could have come over me to sit there
with my gun within reach and my re-
volver in its holster and make not the
slightest move to save my life, while
those fierce brutes crept nearer and
nearer. | think the poison benumbed
and stupitied me to certain extent.
! hat is, while my brain was never more
active and my eye-Sight keen. felt
helpless to move, and my mouth was
as dry As if had the fever. | knew
my peril as fully as any one could, but
when | thought of grasping my rifle
and sighting it the exertion required
me.
The lion was the holder of the two.
After making up his mind that could
not harm him, he held his head up,
swung his tail about, and advanced at
a slow pace. | was under cover, and
he might have suspected a trap. But
for this he would have probably made
4 rush. The tiger displayed exactly the
same characteristics as cat creeping
upon her prey. He crept, crawled.
twisted about, and sought to shelter
his body behind the slightest tuft of
grass. He did not however, take his
eyes off me for the tenth of a second,
and the nearer he came the more his
great lips parted to show his yellow
teeth. He was as supple as snake,
and nothing could be more graceful
than his movements. | could see his
tremendous muscles culver as he NOV
ed, and remember of what power he
must have in his legs. 1t was all of
ten minutes before the beasts approach
ed the point where they realized each
Others presence. You would have
thought, with only a wall separating
them, that they must have heard or
scented each other. The fact that they
did not was probably owing to the
excitement under which they labored.
By and by the lion was almost at the
end of the wall, and near enough for
his spring. He crouched down,
switched his tail in a menacing way,
and l plainly saw his talons dig into
the earth as he gathered his muscles
for great effort. While there was
settled determination on his part to
make food of me, there was a certain
of his general demeanor
1t was plain that he was mystified, but
his ferocious nature prevailed.
The tiger kept abreast OF the lion,
and he was the first to take the alarm.
He evidently scented the lion, for he
reared up, snutfed the air, and then
flung out paw and spat like an angry
cat. This noise startled the lion, and
he rose up, showed his teeth, and took
his eyes off me for the first time.
Either animal could easily have leaped
the wall, but neither attempted it. The
tiger took ON fiercer look and drop
ped some of his stealth, but the lion
reached the end of the wall
first, uttering a roar of defiance
and evidently expecting to meet an
enemy. The tiger was four or five feet
from the end of the wall, and the move
he made was 50 quick that my eyes
could NOT follo,x- II Ac tbo l;o,,f, h.,I